[1] Cod. Dip. CXLIII.
[2] Dr. Lappenburg (I. 38) describes the people of Warwickshire and Worcestershire as the “Gewissi.” But the “Gevissæ” was the ancient name of the southern main stem of the West Saxons, who made their way into Somerset and Devon (Bæda. H. E. III. 7), and plainly a name of distinction from the Huiccii. All the pre-Christian pedigrees of the West Saxon leaders have an early name “Gewis,” which has been, with great likelihood, supposed to have been the origin of the name of the Gevissæ. In some only of the pedigrees, this name is next preceded by “Wig.” This seems to point to a division of the leadership between two kinsmen, perhaps brothers; and the Wiccii or Wigornians to be derived from the latter.
[3] A.S. Chron., “Feathan leag”—Welsh Chronicles, “Ffery llwg.”
[4] Dr. Guest in Archæological Journal, vol. xix., p. 197.
[5] Thesaurus, I. 169.
[6] Dr. Guest and Mr. Freeman, and their followers, as the Saturday Review, and the various school histories, which, having adopted the innovation, are lauded in that journal.
[7] Prof. W. W. Skeat, Macmillan, Feb. 1879, p. 313.
[8] See “A Primæval British Metropolis,” Bristol, 1877, pp. 45-80.
[9] One of the obsolete ones was brought to mind by a paper read by Mr. C. E. Davis, at Bath, in 1857: another is printed from the Register of Worcester Cathedral in Thomas’s Survey, kindly pointed out by Mr. John Taylor; so that others, unreckoned, may possibly be brought to light.
There is one, in addition to all those above mentioned, at Dublin; but, as the dedications in Strongbow’s Dublin are no more than a post-Norman colonisation of those at Bristol, it does not enter into our reckoning.